cable or netflix

We've been kinda down on our cable lately. Some channels don't have good reception, even though we have a box, and they all come from the same cable feed... I called their service, and the advice I got was to trade the box in for a different one. I think I'm going to trade the extended service for the basic while I'm at it.

Now that we can get shows streaming in from hulu, and other sources, and pay a much lower monthly fee to netflix and get unlimited downloads of many movies and programs to watch when it is convenient, the cable is much less attractive. The day of programmable television isn't that far in the future. Then I can really watch what I want, when I want to, and not have to worry about whether its Tuesday or Friday or whatever. No commercials, either, if you please. I've enjoyed some vintage Dr. Who, and some other British television, along with some anime and stand up comedians. There is plenty on netflix that I'll enjoy watching.

So the box goes back soon... Friday probably, so that Ron has a chance to sort the mess out. He has the wire knowledge. So, why don't we get rid of the cable all together? Well, that is how we get our internet service at the moment. It is still basically the fastest and most reliable where we live, so we'll keep it.

enjoy summer

The monsoon season started this week. At least that is MY "official" pronouncement. After Thursday's rain out at White Sands, I kind of had an inkling. That and the clouds moving in every afternoon. This evening, though, this evening we have had rain at my house. It has been lovely, too, I must say. Oh sure, there was thunder and lightening. The power went off for a little while, but that just sent us out into the evening to enjoy the wet. Raine and Shelbi went and played in the gutters in the water, and rode up and down on their scooters. They even went around the block a time or two. I pulled a few weeds, and just enjoyed the rain. Eventually - of course - the power came back on and we all made our way inside for baths and desert. Still, hours later, the pit pat of the rain on the sky light made me smile as I headed for my own shower.

And, oh yes, I went and got Shelbi so she could stay with us for a while. Even got to go sew with Roxanne, too. It has definitely been a good day. I am definitely enjoying my summer, and I'm sure going to hate to see it end, as all good things eventually must.

summer sewing

Roxanne is having visitors, and classes, and things keeping her busy. I finally got some sewing done, though, and wanted to share. I know I shared the top I made, but I've gotten a couple of other things put together as well.

I got a couple of pairs of shorts done for Raine, who liked them well enough to wear them right away. Dinosaur shorts and skull shorts. She wore the dinosaur pair when she added dino decorations to her new room.

I also finished a pair of shirts for small boys, these in a spider fabric that I never got around to using for Raine. Can you spot the mistake I made? I just decided to deal with it by making believe I meant to do it that way all along. Fortunately, I was able to (meaning I didn't sew a piece on upside down or something).

Today, I'm headed to Alamogordo to a quilt festival they are having there. Yeah, I know, it DOES sound like fun!

best laid plans

Some plans just don't go... as planned, do they? One of Raine's favorite things is playing games on the computer. Not hard to figure out why or how, since the rest of us enjoy it too. In her case, we try to help her balance her time, interest and activities, since we - as adults - are responsible for that sort of thing, and she - as a youngster - isn't really able to do it on her own yet.

She likes to play World of Warcraft when she can, but we only have 3 accounts (only? Well, one for each adult) which means if she is playing, someone else isn't. Which means it needs to be planned, right? So this weekend I planned with Raine what chore we would work do on Monday so we could earn some WoW time later that day. Then Sunday evening her daddy told her no computer tomorrow. Monday's plan dashed. Well, always flexible, I told her, OK, do what you need to on Monday so that we can play on Tuesday.

This morning we got up, and went out back and raked and shoveled and she was a pretty good trooper about the work we did. Then, coming in, Carl reminded me that Tuesday is patch day on Wow, usually until about noon. Well, it wasn't too far from that already, so we cleaned up, and had lunch. Still the patching wasn't done... postponed until 2. At 2? Postponed until 6. At 6? up but really really crowded with all the OTHER people who had been anxiously awaiting it to come back up. Her daddy got home about 6:30, which we knew he would, and then he gets to use his computer... She did get a consolation activity of playing another game on her computer, but it wasn't WoW.

So tomorrow, fates and destiny willing, we will go pull our 100 weeds, and then try logging on for a little bit of WoW. At least, that's the current plan.

raine's home

We picked her up from the airport yesterday afternoon. She had a great time with her grandparents. Her favorite things that they did together were the trip to Dollywood, especially the rides in the amusement park, and the Tweetsie train, which stages a train robbery during the ride and cowboys come and rescue the passengers. She liked that a lot. She was also thrilled because her grandparents built a fire pit in their yard so they could roast weenies and marshmallows for dinner (supplemented by mac & cheese, of course). Hmmmm think she was happy? Her grandmother even mentioned that they were looking at picnic tables so that they would be "ready for next time" and the tribal picnics that were bound to be involved. Yeah, it made me smile, too. What are grandparents for, after all?

While she was gone, we switched her room, and the computer room, so that she got the bigger of the two. She's pretty happy about that, and has been enjoying the space in her new room, as well. No problems sleeping last night. Well, she has her same bed, but you know, sometimes rearranging even familiar furniture can throw you off a bit. She wore the new shorts I made her while she was gone, they have dinosaurs on them, so they were well received. Today she also got to "decorate" her walls with some wall stickers of dinosaurs. She had them in the old room, but we had another set. These things are pretty cool, designed to stick on and stay, and then peel off easily (which they did). I would recommend them for putting some flair in a kids room.

getting carried away

I'm going to post pictures of the top I finished today. It has taken me a while to finish the thing. Not because it was difficult to sew, quite the opposite, this is a pattern I have used many times, and it is an easy one. See I had this idea in my head for embellishing it. Trims and different stitches, and the yoke would be rather crazy quilt-y when I was done.

So I made my sample stitches and threads, and (because I know sometimes what I envision just doesn't translate the way I want it to) asked opinions. Carl first, Ron, the sewing guild. Between them all, I evolved what I was going to do. Thinking about the possibilities and deciding on the decorations definitely took longer than garment construction did. In the end, I decided simple is better, more or less. Oh, yes, and I got so involved in sewing that I lost track of time, and almost missed lunch with Dev...

I modified the top a little, as well. I made it longer, and I added the band to the ends of the sleeves. I loved the fabric, which is a batik, and one of those that will, after a few wearings and washings, soften up and be one of my favorites, I'm sure.

new dip

Its me. yeah. Well, not really, nothing new about my dippiness. And really I'm not sure there's anything new about this dip, except to me.

Here's what I did... I got some blue cheese dressing, a good, thick kind, and put some salsa in it. A nice spicy one from Carrillo's. yum. Yum when I put celery in it, and yum when I put pork rinds in it. YUM. Creamy but with the blue cheese bite, and then spicy, too. Does it sound like why they give you the blue cheese or ranch dressing with the hot wings? Yeah, well, there ya go.

I can avoid a lot of REALLY BAD foods, when I can enjoy some only sorta bad dip with something crispy. I'm getting used to the pork rinds. They definitely aren't Ruffles with ridges, but they hold dip, and they have a crunch. AND no carbs.

Really yummy.